Speaking

Speaking

As a trained journalist, I have plenty of experience getting people to open up in live interviews. My dedication to research means I’ll know the best questions to ask but my natural friendly demeanour (read: northern accent) means “interviews” take on more of a chatty format. Entertaining, engaging and usually pretty good fun, I love finding out what makes people do the work they do, why they do it and what is it about them that makes people interested. I’m basically politely nosey and insatiably curious - the best qualities for a journalist or interviewer to have.

Mental ill health is now the leading cause of absenteeism in the workplace, but 90% of people would still rather tell their managers they’ve got a cold than say they’re struggling with their mental health. I run a number of talks on Mental Health in the Workplace - a topic I am incredibly passionate about. My talks cover employee rights when it comes to mental health, how to start healthy conversations, asking for help, supporting someone who might be struggling and tools for a self-care arsenal, and combine these with my own personal experience. These conversations are so important and while I'm not an expert on these topics, I'm able to take what I've learned over the last 4 years of depression and cancer and pass it on to people who might find it helpful. These conversations are invaluable.

I’m also a Boobette for breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel! meaning I go into schools, colleges, workplaces, WI’s, community centres (basically anywhere that will have me) to bang on about bangers and the importance of being breast aware. These sessions are targeted at anyone over 14 (ish) so I’m accustomed to tailoring my talk to audiences of any age, and any size. My first ever Boobettes talk was to 205 rowdy 16 year olds in East London. Every talk since then has been a doddle.

I’ve also run a number of online safety courses for young people - but with an overarching theme of “Using Social Media for Storytelling”. We know social media and the internet is going to be a part of the lives of every young person in the country, at least for the foreseeable future, so these sessions teach young people how to cultivate their own social media to be a creative outlet and a healthy, positive place to exist online, while offering them insight into how to make social media work for them.

Alice’s talk was brilliant: it was well-prepared, carefully researched and covered her own battles as well as what one can expect from an employer and how someone can support a friend who is having a tough time. She is an engaging and vivacious speaker, made everyone in the room feel comfortable despite the difficult subject matter, and the Q&A afterwards was lively, thoughtful and helpful.